(5) Fannie E. Cooper

(5) Fannie E. Cooper (my 2nd. great-grandmother) was born in 1859 in Eatonton, Putnam County, GA. She was the daughter of (11) Martha W. Cooper. The evidence is not clear as to who her father was.

We first see Fannie listed as F. E. Cooper in the 1860 census living with her mother in the house of her grandmother. 

We next see her in the 1870 census living with her mother, Martha W., with her stepfather, John Marchman. In this census, she is listed as Fannie Marchman, but as we will see later, Marchman is her stepfather.

In the 1880 census, Fannie is listed as being 20 years old, and living in Putnam County, GA. She is living with her mother Martha W. Marchman, her stepfather J. H. Marchman (45), her daughter Mattie Cooper (3), and son M. I. Cooper (1). So it looks like Fannie, similar to her mother, has had children out of wedlock or with a man with her same last name. Fannie is listed as single and unemployed for 8 months.

On 3 Mar 1884, Fannie Cooper marries Lorenzo Dowell Trail in Putnam County, GA. Trail was a Civil War Veteran.

A very strange story takes place at the end of 1884.  I found 3 articles about this event, and below is the account from The Macon Telegraph of Macon, Georgia dated 31 Dec 1884:

This is a very disturbing and odd story, but it at least makes it very clear that Fannie is John Marchman’s stepdaughter. The other two articles give pretty much the same information except they refer to Carrie Shed and William Harris as negroes. So this means that Fannie gave her oldest boy to a servant to take and deliver to a negro man named William Harris. And that the police did not immediately help Marchman, but rather required that he return with proper documentation that the boy was in his care. The only conclusion that I can draw from this is that perhaps the boy was of mixed race and was possibly William Harris’s child. One of the other articles does state that Harris used to live in Putnam County. It also states that Fannie was a widow.

I do not believe that it was my great-grandfather, Richard Thomas Cooper, who was the child involved, because he would have only been 3 or 4 years old at the time. So, this had to be the M. I. Cooper from the 1880 census.

I do think that we can draw one conclusion from this story and the other info we have on Martha and Fannie. This was a dysfunctional family. And it looks like Fannie was either trouble or troubled.

Unfortunately, the 1890 census was destroyed, or perhaps we would have found out more about this incident.

The only other pieces of evidence that we see in reference to Fannie is her mother’s 1910 census record and her son, Richard Thomas Cooper’s death certificate. Her mother’s 1910 census record states that Martha only ever had one child and that that child was deceased. So we know that Fannie died before 1910. In her son, Richard’s death certificate it states that his mother was Fannie Dent and his father was Thomas Cooper.

So, who was Fannie’s father and who was her son, Richard’s father? I don’t think we can know for sure, but below are my best ideas on these mysteries. 

Who was Fannie father?

We first see Fannie at 1 year old living with her mother and grandmother. Then we see Fannie grow up in John Marchman’s house. All this time she is using the name Fannie Cooper. So, why is Fannie listed as Fannie Dent on her son’s death certificate? After separating from John Marchman, Fannie’s mother Martha married Peter Dent. After Dent died, Martha (as Martha Dent) went to live with her grandson, Richard Thomas Cooper, and his wife, Pearl Estelle Cooper. Martha died in 1910 and then Richard Thomas Cooper died in 1931, long after Martha’s death and Fannie’s death. The information for his death certificate was provided by Pearl. I think Pearl possibly never met Fannie and had only known Martha as Martha Dent. So she assumed that Fannie’s maiden name was Dent. 

BUT there is one more possibility. Martha and Peter grew up just a few lots away from one another. It is possible that Peter got Martha pregnant and did not marry her. Then Martha and Peter lived next door to one another for decades and finally married after their respective relationships ended. So maybe Peter was Fannie’s actual father, but we will never know.

Who was Richard Thomas Cooper’s father?

This is a mystery also. We have no records of Fannie ever marrying anyone except Lorenzo Dowell Trail, and that was a few years after Richard’s birth. Richard’s death certificate says that his father was Thomas Cooper. But was this just a mistake by Richard’s wife, Pearl, who filled out his death certificate or did Fannie marry a Thomas Cooper at some point? I am afraid we may never know.

Fannie E. Cooper:

1. Mattie Cooper
2. M. I. Cooper
3. Richard Thomas Cooper m. Pearl Estelle Ham